THE ADMISSIONS MAGAZINE OF EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
EMMA GOES TO WASHINGTON Emma Girls explore the nation’s capital.
M A KING THEIR MA R K
Ndidi Owunna ’18
(page 14) Describe Emma in two words: Wonderfully empowering. What’s your favorite Emma tradition? Revels. Seeing the seniors put on such a riveting performance each year can only be described as magical. I love how it unites everybody from all classes—underclasswomen and upperclasswomen alike. What’s the last book you read? I recently read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and I am currently reading Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. Are you a night owl or an early bird? I am more of a night owl, and I enjoy sleeping in as much as I can!
Jennifer von Mayrhauser ’65
(page 24) Describe Emma in two words: Transformative, life building, and fun—sorry, that is four! What’s your favorite Emma tradition? Revels, of course. What’s the last book you read? A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I am also reading The Sinner by Petra Hammesfahr—the show I am designing now is based on it. Are you a night owl or an early bird? I have lost track having worked in show biz for so long. I would say it depends on the day!
Davis Scholar Fahima Ali ’17 delivers her heartfelt senior address at Commencement 2017, where she spoke of her love for the school. “My experience at Emma has given me the wisdom to see the value of girls in the world.”
FA L L 2 01 7
MI SSIO N Honoring our founder’s vision, Emma Willard School proudly fosters in each young woman a love of learning, the habits of an intellectual life; and the character, moral strength, and qualities of leadership to serve and shape her world.
Erin Pihlaja
Head of Communications epihlaja@emmawillard.org
THE ADMISSIONS MAGAZINE OF EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL
Amoreena O’Bryon
Assistant Director of Communications for Creative Services aobryon@emmawillard.org Katie Coakley
Assistant Director of Communications for News and Social Media kcoakley@emmawillard.org
F E AT U R E S
Kelly F. Cartwright
Director of Alumnae Relations kcartwright@emmawillard.org Samuel Moore
Class Notes Coordinator smoore@emmawillard.org Megan Tady
Managing Editor www.word-lift.com Lilly Pereira
Designer www.aldeia.design
14 A Good Night’s Sleep
A Signature project inspires more sleep at Emma.
18 A Renaissance in Troy Troy, New York, a city on the rise.
24 Dressing the Stage & Screen An award-winning costume designer dresses the cast of The Sinner.
Jenny Rao
Head of School headofschool@emmawillard.org Please forward address changes to: Emma Willard School 285 Pawling Avenue Troy, NY 12180 518.833.1787 alumnae@emmawillard.org or emmawillard.org/alumnae
P HOTO BY JO E P UT ROC K
Signature, the magazine of Emma Willard School is published by the Communications Office two times each year for alumnae, parents, grandparents, and friends of Emma Willard School. The mission of this magazine is to capture the school’s values and culture through accurate and objective stories about members of the Emma community, past and present, as they put Emma Willard’s mark on the world.
O N T H E COV ER This “signature” is brought to you by Jenny Rao. In the photo, Emma Girls explore the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. Photo by Erin Schaff ’07.
D E PA R T M E N T S
02 From the Triangle
12 Faculty Voices
Grandparents and Special Friends Day, service learning, young entrepreneurs, sheros, and more.
Q&A with Math Department Chair Wendy Eld.
10 The Classroom Generous donor gift brings new curriculum to Emma Girls.
30 Special Section 32 Admissions 34 Signing Off 17th Head of School Jenny Rao reminisces on her first Emma moments.
From th" Triangl"
Emma goes to Washington Emma Girls in our Round Square House dormitory spent two days in Washington, D.C., exploring topics of social justice, human rights, equality, and democracy— all ideals in the themed residential program which resides in Cluett House. The girls visited prominent locations that represent moments in American and world history when justice, equality, and democracy were compromised. Students reflected on the ways movements are born, leaders rise, and how the desire for human compassion and connection thrives in times of crisis and conflict. A highlight of the trip was connecting with D.C.-area alumnae over dinner and hearing their stories—some of which dove deeply into the very topics the students were there to explore. The girls also stopped by Capitol Hill for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand ’84. The exchange left them excited and inspired to make a difference in the world. Thanks to the wonderful alumnae who joined the girls for dinner: Tess Mabry ’09, Beverly Gunther ’60, Erica Ling ’75, Margaret Speer ’08, Betsy Gifford Gross ’72, Grace Smith ’14, Hilary Rosenthal ’08, Rachel Johnson ’06, and Fae Jencks ’06. Special thanks to Carla Smith ’74 for her educational and enchanting tour of the monuments, and to Erin Schaff ’07 for being a wonderful companion and photographer for the entire trip!
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P HOTOS BY ERI N SC HAFF ’ 07
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
Clockwise: Ivy Huang ’18, pauses for reflection outside of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s office during a tour at the senate. Katie Sidford ’17 and Lily Pickett ’18 outside of the Capitol Building. Cindy Yuan ’19 touches the Korean War Veteran’s Memorial. On a tour with tour guide and Emma alumna Carla Smith ’74, Cindy Yuan ’19 studies the Korean War Memorial. Ivy Huang ’18, Janine Reidy ’18, Michaela Freedman ’19, and Cindy Yuan ’19 explore the Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument.
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FROM THE TR IA NGLE See the complete photo album on facebook.com/ emmawillardschool
Welcoming Grandparents and Friends On May 19, the Emma community welcomed over 200 guests for our first-in-a-longtime Grandparents and Special Friends Day. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, cousins, and neighbors traveled from Mexico, the West Coast, and nearly every state in the Northeast to visit campus, many for the first time. Events included the dedication of a new outdoor space designed by Sasha Baskin ’17 as her Signature project. This space was made possible by a generous gift from Steve and Denise Gonick P’16 ’20 in honor of Denise’s mother, Louise, who always enjoyed and encouraged others to spend time outdoors. The day also marked the culmination of dozens of Signature and Advanced Arts projects, with students offering presentations and performances across campus. We loved having so many special people with us for the day and are already looking forward to next year’s event!
A Delicious Lesson While reading the French classic Madame Bovary in French IV, French instructor Sabra Sanwal asks her students to carefully read through the detailed description of Emma Bovary’s highly unusual, over-thetop wedding cake, and create their own representation of the masterpiece. One of the most delicious and remarkable depictions was created by Ella Kolosek ’17, who made Emma’s wedding cake from scratch. Not only did it perfectly bring to life Flaubert’s passage, it was wonderfully delicious as well!
SERVING AND SHAPING HUDSON PCB CLEAN-UP As part of a pilot service learning program, Emma Girls in 11th grade biology classes studied the Hudson River’s long-standing PCB pollution issue. Throughout the year, the girls learned about the pollution crisis by undertaking research and speaking with area experts. As a culminating event, the girls spent a day at the Cohotate Preserve, exploring the concept of citizen science as it relates to monitoring the Hudson River’s ecosystems, water levels, temperatures, and pH levels. They also dedicated a portion of the day to cleaning up some of the preserve’s riverbank and trail areas.
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YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS
Sharing Emma’s Beauty Architects from Robert A. M. Stern Architects in New York City toured campus last spring, joined by Karin Krasevac-Lenz, executive director of the Rensselaer County Historical Society. Dr. Susan Groesbeck, then interim head of school, and Emily Snyder, director of student life and an AP art history instructor, guided the tour. The group was captivated by Emma’s Collegiate Gothic style, and the participants were particularly interested in the Hunter Science Center and the Helen S. Cheels Aquatic Center, both designed by famed architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien—the team selected to design the Barack Obama Presidential Library. They were also impressed to learn that Edward Larrabee Barnes designed the tripartite abstract building that houses the Dietel Library, Snell, Maguire, and Tangeman—an example of “village” architecture which housed faculty. We loved seeing their reactions to our beloved campus!
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
Winning Ideas Five teams of Emma Willard School entrepreneurs competed in the 2017 New York State High School Business Model Competition, an annual event held at Siena College in Loudonville, NY. The competition gives high school students the opportunity to showcase original business plans in an educationally competitive environment. Out of 33 teams from all over New York state and New Jersey, Emma teams took home four awards! Emma winners include: • Salome Mikadze ’18, who won 1st place for MagnetOWear. • Nana Takada ’17, Nina Xie ’18, Cindy Yuan ’19, and Stephanie Zhang ’19, who won 2nd place for I to I. • Prim Budsaratragoon ’19, Amber Hsu ’19, and Emiko Saso ’19, who won Most Socially Beneficial for Infinity Giving. • Angel Hsu ’19 and Judy Jiang ’19, who won Best Financial Analysis for Tracy’s Green. Congratulations to the students, their faculty mentors, and our Director of Practicum Anne Mossop for all of their hard work and welldeserved recognition.
HATCH
DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM A SHERO The Bridges, a wellness-themed residential program, hosted Olympic gold medalist Samantha Livingstone at an evening social. Since winning the gold medal in swimming in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Sam has been speaking to and mentoring young women across the country. She shared her insights into perfectionism, goals, failing forward, achieving a sense of balance in life, and, of course, her journey to becoming an Olympian.
In front of a panel of experts at the MIT Launch Business Plan Demo Day, Nat Tangwiwat ’18, Annabelle Tang ’18, Ashley Kwon ’18, and Irene Lee ’18 presented their idea for Hatch, an educational news aggregator. The website is designed to minimize selection bias when reading the news and maximize the opportunity for students to reflect on and discuss media bias. Based on their plan, the girls have the opportunity to apply for a grant of up to $1,000 from MIT Launch to continue to develop their idea.
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Congratulations, Class of 2017.
Commencement
PHOTOS BY AM OREEN A O’BRYON A N D KAT IE COA KLEY
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
Senior speaker Fahima Ali addressed her classmates at Commencement 2017, saying: “Each one of you has created a unique rainbow in my cloud and I am forever grateful for getting to know you…We will continue to see each other in the powerful work we do every day.” Fahima’s words deeply resonated with her class of 101 dedicated, forward-thinking peers—many of whom are already serving and shaping the world. As she left the stage, the Somaliland native was met with thunderous cheers, smiles, tears, and embraces—showing the tight-knit bonds among this class. Keynote journalist (and husband to Cassandra Barry ’91) Joel Stein delivered a speech filled with humor and advice for the graduating class. Other highlights at this year’s ceremony included honoring Samantha Torres with the Jameson Adkins Baxter Award and Hannah Lang with the Clementine Miller Tangeman Award, and saying a final goodbye to Ms. Gerri Biggins, who was “graduating” along with the class. Gerri noted, “I realized at [Bicentennial] that it is not Slocum or Sage, nor the Library or the Chapel, that define Emma Willard School. It is each student who walks through the inner campus going to classes every day, to meet a friend, or just to chill on the Senior Triangle.”
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FROM THE TR IA NGLE
ON THE WAT E R
BY ERIN PIHLAJA
Catch. Drive. Recovery. For a small school with a short rowing season, Emma Willard School’s crew program continues to outpace larger competitors and win top-place finishes. At the end of the 2016-17 season, the crew team racked up the following impressive wins: The girls varsity 4+ boat was a bronze medalist in the New York State High School Championships, the girls novice 8+ boat secured a silver medal in the New York State High School Championships, and the girls varsity 4+ boat was a finalist in the Scholastic National Championships (6th of 40+ crews). “Many kids who come here to row literally don’t know one end of the boat from the other,” says Head Coach Bob Tarrant. “In a relatively short time they pick it up so quickly. We’ve won three crews nationals. For a tiny school in Troy, NY, that’s pretty amazing.” Emma’s crew team also has a reputation for being strong competitors at the Head of the Charles in Boston, one of biggest regattas in the sport. The secret of the program’s success? Bob is quick to credit assistant coaches Liz Martin and Dr. Julie Matthews. “We’re not yellers or screamers,” Bob says.“We’re not drill sergeants. Each kid is unique in level, style, and approach. The kids are so supportive of each other, it’s absolutely the opposite of what we’ve seen elsewhere.” Coxswain Zoe O’Bryon ’19 noticed the supportive atmosphere right away. Before Emma, Zoe had rowed with another organization, but found it “very cutthroat, very competitive.” At Emma, she says, “We are competitive, but supportive of each other.” Coaches also give girls a chance to grow and improve. When the team needed a coxswain under the age of 17 to compete in the Spring 2016 U17 regatta in Saratoga, Zoe jumped at the chance. She’s now a full-time coxswain. 8
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“Coxing taught me a lot about leadership,” Zoe says, who was elected as a tri-captain for next season. “I’ve never felt that there was something that I was really good at. Coxing is that for me. At first I was out of my comfort zone, but now I’m so comfortable. I took a risk and I am so happy.” Andrea Alverde ’12 says the bond she developed with her teammates still exists five years after graduation. Andrea’s team won the state championship in 2009, qualified for nationals in 2010, and, as a four-person boat, took fourth place at nationals in New Jersey in 2011. “People said we were a cult, and we kind of were,” Andrea says. “We had such a strong bond. If you have eight people on a boat and someone makes a mistake, everyone shares it. You push each other because if your teammate is better than you, it makes the whole boat better.” From Mexico City, Andrea planned on attending Emma for freshman year only, but then she discovered crew and stayed at the school all four years. “The teamwork was so motivational and the friendships I made were so amazing,” she says. Emily Morley ’12, who joined the crew team at Emma and rowed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio for the Bahamas, credits Coach Tarrant for steering the program to success. “I think Coach Tarrant makes the program what it is,” Emily says. “During such a crucial time of my life, Bob was there for support, encouragement, and was a constant role model. Every day he showed up to make us better and that showed through his passion for the sport, and his commitment to the girls on the team. I owe all my love for the sport and my detailed stroke to Bob and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
SOC IAL MEDI A
Follow us @emmawillard @emmawillard “I wish each of you health, happiness and success and for one last time—let me say…you are officially excused!” —Ms. Biggins #EmmaGrad17
#Yearbook
facebook.com/ emmawillardschool 2017 Flame Ceremony, where the leaders of our over 60 clubs passed the flame to those taking leadership positions next year. #FieldDay
Class of 2017 decorate the sidewalks with their college destinations.
PHOTO BY AMO REEN A O’ BRYO N P’1 9
#HighJump
I Am Inquisitive youtube.com/watch?v=m_ NOZB9PZ7M
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Th" Classroom
BY ERIN PIHLAJA
Moving the Story Forward Donor-funded graphic novel class gives Emma Girls new perspective. Mary Louis is a naturally shy and quiet girl who had always been satisfied with the government’s regulation that citizens were only permitted to speak 10,000 words each month. She didn’t need more—she wasn’t a big fan of talking a lot anyway. But when her friend joined a rising rebellion against the ruling power, Mary Louis became the government’s target by association.
“It’s a story about the power of standing up for what you believe in, and of your own voice,” says Samantha Torres ’17 of her graphic novel project, 10,000. Samantha developed 10,000 during her senior year at Emma Willard School in Barbara Slate’s
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You Can Do A Graphic Novel class. Barbara modeled the class after a handbook she wrote for budding graphic artists. The class is the first to be funded by a donor gift from Stephanie Sides ’73 to endow the The Sides Family Visiting Writer Program Fund. Samantha’s 10,000 is told through illustration and words, blended together in organized panels of black, white, and vibrant red. “I wasn’t going to pursue the idea of 10,000 until Ms. Slate read my summary and told me that I was onto something,” Samantha says.“She is a supporter of any idea that her students might deem ‘embarrassing, wacky, or out of the norm.’” The class wasn’t Samantha’s first introduction to art or writing, but she wanted to explore different ways to tell a story. “I came into class confident in my artistic abilities but not my writing skills,” she says. “My overall impression after the class is that storytelling can be extremely powerful and that there is no ‘right’ way to do it.” “In a graphic novel, it’s the art that moves the story forward,” Barbara says. Barbara, mother of a graduate of the class of 2015, has had an expansive career as an artist, and has been described as a “pioneer among women in comics.” The first cartoon character she created, Ms.
Liz, appeared on millions of greeting cards, launched a marketing platform that included an expansive line of products, was featured in a regular comic strip in Cosmopolitan magazine, and starred in a series of animated segments on NBC’s Today Show. “As a four-year-old, I knew I was going to be an artist,” Barbara says. She recalls having a babysitter who didn’t pay her much attention, choosing rather to talk on the phone for hours to her boyfriend. “She could really draw. I remember looking over her shoulder and I saw the most extraordinary thing I’d ever seen. She drew these beautiful girls—it totally shocked me. It was the first magical moment of my life.” Barbara’s Ms. Liz hit a nerve with people. At the time, the late-1970s, mainstream greeting card companies were producing feel-good cards that were not pushing any boundaries. Ms. Liz was a single woman who delivered zingers such as: “I know I’m not easy to live with but you’re no bargain either,” “If my place is in the home—get out,” and, “I’ve given you the best years of my life, did I have to give you a birthday card too?” The line received a lot of attention, which landed Barbara a position at DC Comics. “The audience at that time was around 95 percent boys and 5 percent girls,” Barbara says. “The
PH OTOS BY AM OREE NA O’B RYON
president at DC Comics wanted to change that.” Barbara was asked to create a series called Angel Love, which featured a female lead who moved to New York City and interacted with people who had real-life issues, including drug addictions. The comic was extremely controversial. “A lot of men were very angry,” Barbara says. “They said I was ruining the comic book industry. But I also got mail from teachers using the comics in inner-city schools who said that the kids could relate to these issues.” Angel Love was pulled after nine issues. Barbara went on to work for Marvel Comics, where she created two original series and put her own spin on Disney classics, such as Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, and Mattel’s Barbie. “I loved doing Barbie,” Barbara says. “My friends were mad at me at first. But I made Barbie a feminist—she could do anything she wanted. The one thing I didn’t like is that I wasn’t allowed to have her make mistakes. But in one issue, she puts the wrong valentine in the wrong envelope—I was very proud of that. I don’t know how they didn’t catch it.” Why was it so important to Barbara to allow Barbie to make a mistake? She says simply, “Because she’s human.” Samantha says she’s honored to receive instruction from someone with such an impressive background. “This class taught me much more than how to create an interesting composition or add a good twist to your story,” Samantha says. “It taught me that sometimes I need to trust my gut and my instincts.”
Barbara wrote over one hundred Betty and Veronica stories for Archie Comics, as well as several graphic novels that received critical acclaim. At one point during her career, she was one of two women in the entire country producing original work for mainstream comics. “This was the ’80s and ’90s,” Barbara notes. She adds that it’s easy for her students to forget that it wasn’t that long ago that women in traditionally male-dominated fields had to work to overcome sexism and workplace discrimination. It was common, she says, to be asked questions like, “How come you’re not married?” “We’re not quite there even today,” Barbara says. She shares what she’s learned along the way with the students she teaches. “Get out there. Don’t be afraid to brag. Be assertive, confident, and trust yourself. I have a big sign over my desk to remind me. It reads: ‘I know best.’”
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Faculty Voice%
INTERVIEW BY MEGAN TADY
Wendy Eld
The Math Behind It Math instructor Wendy Eld first started her career teaching science, but switched subjects after she was asked to teach an algebra course. She’s passionate about bringing math to life for Emma Girls, and helping them gain financial literacy before they make their first major purchases as adults— from college to cars to houses. Wendy, who is also the math department chair, was recently selected to participate in a faculty exchange with Red Maids’ School in Bristol, England. She was also selected by the student body to receive the 2017 Madelyn Levitt and Linda Glazer Toohey Award for Faculty Excellence for her 21 years of service. Why did you prefer teaching math to science? I could understand where the girls were making their mistakes. And it was just so thrilling for me that I could help them at that level. I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to have more of an impact teaching math than I am teaching science.’ I mean, I love science, but the math was just so great. Why do you teach a financial literacy unit? There was a finance chapter in [my Statistics and Probability class], and I thought, ‘Let me try to expand upon teaching the girls a little about the cost of borrowing money.’ Many students are not
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getting a background about any basic financial literacy. They’re going into college, and some of them, especially before the economic downturn in 2008, were borrowing so much money to go to college, and then getting saddled with a lot of debt. I thought, ‘Do they understand how much it’s going to cost them later on?’ How do you drive home the cost of borrowing? We pretend we’re going to buy a car. We look up the price online and see how much it’s going to cost per month for, say, a four-year car loan. I up the ante and move on to a house. We do a 30-year mortgage. Their eyes pop out when they see how much it’s going to cost to buy that home with a 30-year mortgage. Are there other units or topics that get you as excited? Definitely statistics—just understanding the basic measures of center, like mean, median, and mode. This is used in
every media source. I’m sure you’ve read articles about, say, the average credit card debt, or the median salary in the United States. I’m teaching the girls to read information critically, understanding the math behind it. How would you describe your teaching approach? For me, it’s connecting on the personal level. I just want the girls to know that I am there for them, and that I’m going to do my best to help them understand. I show them that I’m willing to meet them halfway. A gender gap exists in math; often boys are expected to perform better than girls. How are you able to reach girls differently because you’re not in a co-ed environment? I taught at a co-ed school before Emma. I could see how the girls just sort of shrank back in their shells, and just didn’t feel as confident. Here, being single sex allows the girls to be more comfortable and
TH E CLASS RO O M
PH OTO BY AMOREENA O’B RYON
they don’t have to raise their hand immediately. I wait when I ask a question to give girls enough time to think about it, and reflect upon it. We encourage girls to take intellectual risks. And we encourage them to make mistakes, because the only way you’re going to learn is to learn from your mistakes. If a girl claims she’s ‘not good at math,’ how do you respond? If a girl says, ‘I’m not good at math,’ I’ll say, ‘Yet. Maybe you’re not good at math yet, and maybe you just need a little more practice.’ Some people need more practice than others. I try to model it myself. Maybe I’m not the most eloquent writer, but I’m going to keep working at it, because I know that I can improve.
How do you nurture a student who is excited about math? I think, ‘Wow, I’m glad you’re here at Emma. We’re going to try to offer you courses where you can continue with your passion and learn as much as you can.’ We’ve done a fair amount in the math department to offer courses that will help satisfy the girls who are really excited about math.
“If a girl says, ‘I’m not good at math,’ I’ll say, ‘Yet. Maybe you’re not good at math yet, and maybe you just need a little more practice.’ ”
You won a faculty excellence award this year. What was your reaction? Incredibly shocked. Extremely humbled. I didn’t know I had won until they said, ‘And this instructor is one who’s known to follow the rules.’ That’s sort of my mantra—following the rules. I tell the girls, ‘I do
my best to follow the rules around here,’ and that’s when I knew it was me. To be honest, I just now started crying thinking about it. I can’t believe that the girls bestowed this honor on me. I have to admit that afterwards, when I got back to my office, the first thing I did was call my parents.
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From th" Triangl"
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E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
NDIDI OWUNNA ’18 LEADS THE WAY TO GETTING MORE SLEEP AT EMMA.
A Good Night’s
On a typical school night, Ndidi
BY MEGAN TADY PHOTOS BY AMOREENA O’BRYON
Owunna ’18 used to stay up late studying or talking online to friends, finally slipping into bed between 2 and 3 in the morning. A naturally curious person, Ndidi began to wonder how sleep deprivation might be impacting her mind and body, and she decided to launch a Signature project to investigate the issue. emmawillard.org
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Emma Willard School’s Signature program is a personalized capstone experience that allows girls to dive deeply into an educational experience of their choosing. Ndidi wanted to know: Why should Emma Girls sleep more? “Ever since I can remember, I’ve always really loved studying the brain,” Ndidi says. “I wanted to bring awareness to the impact that sleep can have on daily life and physical functioning. Getting enough sleep is really important for maintaining health, and it should be something we prioritize rather than put on the back burner.” The National Institutes of Health estimates that teenagers need at least nine hours of sleep per night, yet only nine percent of high school students are clocking this much sleep. Teens’ biological sleep patterns shift in adolescence, making it difficult to fall asleep before 11:00 p.m., which results in groggy early mornings. Teens aren’t the only ones who are sleep deprived—as Arianna Huffington documented in her recent book, The Sleep Revolution, the entire nation seems to be under slept and hyper connected. Yet sleep, she says, is a “performance enhancer—as opposed to being lazy or not engaged with life.” For Ndidi, the brain mechanisms that trigger or impede a good night’s sleep made for a tantalizing research project. “Sometimes, in my free time, I look up different articles about how sleep impacts different aspects of the body,” she says. “It’s so interesting.” Excitedly, Ndidi launched into her research. Emma paired Ndidi with Dr. Paul Glovinsky, the clinical director of the Capital Region Sleep/Wake Disorders Center in Albany, NY. Ndidi met with Dr. Glovinsky on several occasions, and he steered her toward studies about sleep and adolescence. As Ndidi began to learn more, she also got the opportunity to shadow doctors at two sleep labs: St. Peter’s Sleep Lab and the St. Mary’s Sleep/Wake Disorders Center. “I’d been doing this research all year, and I finally got to see it in action,” she says. “My favorite part was being exposed to different patients who actually had sleep disorders. That was really critical to gaining knowledge.” Ndidi says that she was surprised with one finding in particular: “the role that stress plays in suppressing our bodies ability to have an adequate sleep.” She uncovered that stress raises the brain’s cortisol levels, which in turn suppresses the body’s natural sleep rhythms. “The more cortisol in your brain, the less you are able to sleep,” she says.
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Ndidi also conducted a survey on campus to find out how much Emma Girls were sleeping. The answer: not enough. “I really want to change the attitude about sleep on campus,” she says. “Sometimes students stay up to do homework, and they act like it is something so great, as if they’d won a prize—‘I didn’t go to bed until 3 a.m. last night.’ Meanwhile, they’d actually lost because of the effects of sleep deprivation.” Mary Moore, director of counseling at Emma, says she advises students to prioritize sleep, echoing Arianna Huffington’s theory that sleep is a performance enhancer. “When you’re a teen, staying up later becomes more and more attractive,” Mary says. “There’s that friendship connection they want and need, and Emma Girls are a driven population who want to study. But even if you stayed up to get that extra two hours, chances are you won’t perform well because you’ll be foggy.” The effects of sleep deprivation are real, including lack of memory consolidation and emotional regulation. “I think sleep is vital for everybody,” Mary says. “But it is extremely important for adolescents. This population is growing physically, their brains are developing very, very quickly, and the research that’s out there is that sleep is a chance for the body and the brain to do important work that it can’t do upon waking.” A student who stays up late to cram for an exam might not remember the information in the morning—and not be emotionally equipped to handle the challenges of the day. When Ndidi talks about sleep deprivation, she already sounds like an expert: “When sleep deprivation occurs, there’s a neuronal region in the brain that’s associated with negative emotions, and this becomes hyperactivated. At the same time, a region of the brain called the medial prefrontal
FROM THE TR IA NGLE
cortex is also inactivated, which is crucial in establishing judgment and thinking things through. So people with sleep loss have a hyper reaction to negative stimuli.” She says students who want to ace an exam should plan for a solid night’s rest. “It’s really crucial that you get enough sleep to be able to memorize things adequately.” Additionally, a 2015 study published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence found that each hour of lost sleep for teens correlated to a 38 percent increased risk of feeling sad or hopeless. “Sleep deprivation can be an indicator of depression,” Mary says. “When the world is colored through a haze, it’ll have an influence.” Mary says one way to encourage girls to get more sleep is to model it. “I avoid answering late night emails to students because it may inadvertently send the wrong message. We want to model healthy habits for our students.” Last year, in The Bridges dorm, Residential Advisor Elizabeth “Liz” Martin introduced girls to a sleeptracking app, allowing them to draw parallels between sleep quality and how they spent their day. “The girls have been able to engage positively with taking accountability for their choices surrounding sleep,” Liz says. “The routine of the app has allowed the girls to become educated advocates of their own health and wellbeing.” As Ndidi winds down her Signature project, she’s hoping her information will be an asset to the Emma community. And she’s grateful to the support she received from her Emma mentors. “They’re so open and they’re so willing to help with everything that I needed to be able to be successful on this project.” And yes, Ndidi is going to bed earlier—by midnight. “Before embarking on the Signature project,
GET MORE ZZZ’S
I understood the importance of sleep, but I didn’t really act on it myself,” she says. “Now, I really try to make myself go to sleep at an earlier time.” Shelley Maher, dean of students and wellbeing, says she encourages all members of the Emma community to get more shut-eye: “As we are all aware, sleep is such a critical facet of our everyday life. Even though we like to believe we can catch up on lost sleep, research clearly tells us we can’t, so it’s absolutely essential that we get what we need each night. For the majority of us, that is anywhere between seven to nine hours per night. Remember, it’s never too late to start.”
Ready to make sleep a priority in your life? Emma Willard School’s Director of Counseling Mary Moore has some tips on creating healthy sleep patterns. She says: “There are rituals we adopt that send signals to the whole self that say, ’Now is the time to key down.’” • Turn off screens at least one hour before bed. That means not climbing under the covers with your phone. • Put your phone on airplane mode so it doesn’t ping throughout the night. • Try gentle stretches or mindfulness/ breathing exercises that help trigger progressive relaxation. • Ditch the late-night caffeine for herbal teas that promote sleep and relaxation. • Soak in an Epsom salt bath to relax your mind and your muscles.
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THE From th" Triangl"
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BY DANIELLE SANZONE
E M M A W I L L A R D S C H O O L’ S H O M E TOW N I S M O R E V I B R A N T T H A N E V E R . 18
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very Saturday throughout the year, an average of 8,000 people visit the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market in the city of Troy’s bustling downtown. In the last 18 months, more than 50 small businesses have opened in Troy. The former site of city hall is being renovated to house a movie theater, Troy’s first cinema in years. Once an industrial powerhouse, the city is having another renaissance. Kate Manley, president of the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce, has been astounded by the growth, even as she and others have worked toward it. “The resurgence in downtown Troy has really been organic,” she says. “It’s about the community pulling together.” The Collar City, named for its history in collar shirt manufacturing, has been able to blend the old and the new—creating a youthful vibe as it retains its historic charm. “There is a new Troy and an old Troy, but what’s so neat is they are woven together to create this really intricate community that is welcoming, supportive, and innovative,” Kate says. “It’s a Victorian-era, 200-year-old city, but the median age of residents is 30.6.” Residents, visitors, and Emma Girls are reveling in the changes and looking with fresh eyes at what Troy can offer. Katie Hammon, executive director of the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District (BID), says Troy is a growing tourist destination, and people are drawn to Troy’s walkability, affordability, historic architecture, and thriving downtown. Katie herself moved to Troy in 2013. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she said she enjoyed the eclectic mix of small businesses and diverse culture the city offers. “Troy has grown immensely, even in the relatively short time that I have lived here,” Katie says. She envisions Troy becoming an “18-hour city,” with even more people working, shopping, dining, and exploring from morning until evening. The BID expects Troy will continue to grab the attention and imagination of visitors from around the region—including Emma students who are enjoying Troy like never before and using the city to study history up close.
Clockwise from top: Eight thousand people visit the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market every Saturday; Heidi Knoblauch ’04 opened Plumb Oyster Bar, joining other new businesses in Troy; Plumb’s menu serves a variety of East and West Coast oysters; Alumna Elda Abate ’97 opened an accredited bartending school; Alumnae visit the market during Reunion 2017. P HOTOS BY ERIN P IHL A JA (U NL ESS OTHERW IS E NOTED)
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P HOTO BY W IL D.S P ROKET
Lucas Confectionery is a wine bar serving thirsty patrons small production and natural wines and craft beer.
SETTING UP SHOP IN TROY When Tobi Saulnier P’07, a former trustee, was a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, she said she mainly drove through Troy to get to restaurants and the movies in nearby cities, like Colonie and Latham. But in 2005, Tobi had to find a brick-and-mortar location for her tech business, 1st Playable Productions, and she discovered that Troy had just what she needed: a welcoming atmosphere and a walkable downtown. 1st Playable Productions creates games to inspire children and adults to learn. “When I moved downtown, there were only a couple of other technology companies here,” Tobi says. “Since then, many more businesses have moved into town, many restaurants have opened, and the BID has created many local events to enrich the cultural options.”
Felicity Jones and her partner have a similar story. They dreamt of opening a café, but weren’t sure where. Troy seemed to have it all: compelling architecture, walkability, and affordability. They scored a good deal on a building on Fourth Street that was on the verge of collapsing. After two years of renovating, they opened the café Superior Merchandise Co. in 2015, where many Emma Girls spend their free time. “Troy might be one of the only cities out there where a couple in their late 20s can buy a building and open a business in downtown without spending millions of dollars,” Felicity says. “Looking back now, I’m so thankful we chose Troy. It’s seriously such a special city with such an incredible sense of community. Within a year of living here, I felt more welcome than I ever did in my hometown.” Sitting in Superior Merchandise Co. and sipping
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an iced matcha tea, Liz Hammond recalls her own “moving to Troy” moment. She had been visiting family in the area nearly six years ago, and fortuitously went to the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market. She was awestruck by the bountiful local produce at her fingertips and the friendly vibe. She’s now the manager of the market, which she calls her “dream job.” “The market was an influential factor in staying in Troy,” says Liz, who is passionate about food.
“I remember when Broadway was a ghost town, but now you walk around here on a Friday night, and this city is ALIVE.” VIC CHRISTOPHER, owner of Little Pecks, Lucas Confectionery, and other downtown businesses
The market started in 2000 with about 20 vendors, and now has 90 vendors year round, with its winter home in the Troy Atrium, a former shopping center located in the heart of downtown. Liz attributes the market’s success to the supportive Troy community, dedicated market goers, and “a magic that we can’t quite pinpoint.” “The market has helped influence and incubate businesses,” Liz says. “It’s making downtown even more of a destination with people coming from all over, not just the surrounding area.” Jinah Kim felt the magic, too. She opened her business, Sunhee’s Farm and Kitchen, just months after Superior Merchandise Co. opened around the block. “I love Troy and believe in Troy, and I believe that Troy also needs people from different cultures to add to its
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vibrancy,” Jinah, who has Korean roots, says. “Almost everyone would say that downtown Troy has changed a lot over the past five to 10 years. I think with open minds and the inclusion of already-existing communities in the area, Troy will see even greater growth in all areas.”
FLOODED WITH STUDENTS Once every year, Emma Girls are delighted to wake up to Principal’s Play Day, a surprise holiday announced by the head of school. And now, more than ever, Emma Girls use this day to explore their favorite Troy shops and eateries and discover new ones. Liana Greenberg-Nielsen ’18 recalls her last Principal’s Play Day when she and her classmates zipped into downtown. “Troy was flooded with students,” she recalls. As a senior, she can’t wait to be able to explore more of Troy with her car. “I’m excited to come here more often. I want to bring my family.” She has an extensive list of favorite places: the farmers market, Slidin’ Dirty eatery, Market Block Books, Sunhee’s Farm and Kitchen Korean restaurant, the Superior Merchandise Co. café, and Little Pecks, which she says has the “strongest” coffee she’s ever had. “I’m a food person,” she says. “I come for the food.” Vic Christopher, the owner of Little Pecks and several other businesses, says he’s noticed an uptick in Emma Girls frequenting his shop. “The students love their coffee,” he says. Vic says that he’s seen “incredible growth” in downtown over the past few years. “I remember when Broadway was a ghost town, but now you walk around here on a Friday night, and this city is alive,” he says. Emma Girls aren’t just shopping and eating in Troy—they’re seeking ways to plug into the community. Liz Hammond, director of the farmers market, says many Emma students volunteer at the market’s information booth to help people find products, sell tote bags and T-shirts with the
Clockwise from top: Tobi Saulnier P’07 in her expanding 1st Playable offices in downtown Troy; showing love for Troy at Superior Merchandise Co.; Felicity Jones, owner of Superior Merchandise Co.; students in Bob Naeher’s U.S. History Experiential class visit Manory’s, Troy’s oldest diner. P HOTOS BY ERIN P IHL A JA (U NL ESS OTHERW IS E NOTED)
market logo, and help with setup and cleanup.
TROY AS CLASSROOM When Sulwe Bukhala ’18 was growing up in Clifton Park, about 12 miles from Troy, her father, a General Electric employee, would sometimes mentor students in some of the more depressed areas of Troy. She remembers driving through parts of the city and thinking that certain neighborhoods didn’t seem safe. She has a slightly different perspective on the city now, thanks to the city’s facelift, and to a history class taught by the Emma Willard School History Department Chair and Newell Instructor of Humanities. His students know him as Dr. Naeher. The class, U.S. History Experiential, uses Troy as a classroom to introduce students to the region’s rich history. “I didn’t realize Troy was a historic place until relatively recently,” Sulwe
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says, adding that her favorite building in Troy is the Troy Music Hall because of the unique architecture. “It’s interesting to think all of this is right near us.” Bob has taken his students to visit sites in Troy and in the Capital Region like the Burden Ironworks, where more than 90 percent of Union horseshoes were manufactured during the Civil War; St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the crown jewel of Troy’s extensive collection of Tiffany glass (Troy has the largest collection of Tiffany glass per capita than anywhere in the world); and the Hart-Cluett House, part of the Rensselaer County Historical Society—and a key component to Emma’s history, as it was home to one of the original donors to the Troy Female Seminary.
“I was taking pictures of the canal and other sites to show my class and I thought we could make better use of what was around us by actually going to see these sites, rather than settling for photos,” says Bob, who started his class in 2015. The class also visited sites in and around Albany, the state capital, and Bob instructed his students to examine old edifices as they would a primary document for historic research. “I want the girls to walk around with their eyes open,” Bob says. “Every part of a human construct is there for a reason, and we can learn much about the values and assumptions of the people who made these constructs, be it buildings, paintings, books, etc., by ‘reading’ and analyzing what they created.
Referencing historical context helps in this analysis.” Victoria Gorman ’17 says the class has brought history to life for her. “Usually when you learn about something in class, you imagine what it looked like, or you see photos,” she says. “With this class, you see things rather than just imagine them.” While the girls are flocking to new hot spots in Troy, they’re also visiting mainstays of the community—sometimes for the first time. For example, last spring the class ate lunch together at Manory’s—Troy’s oldest restaurant—which opened in 1913. Pawa Osathanugrah ’17, who also took U.S. History Experiental, says she loved learning about the city’s storied past. She was particularly enamored with St. Paul’s Church in downtown Troy. “I still could learn more,” Pawa says. “I’m excited I still have another year to spend more time in Troy.” Danielle Sanzone works in the Interactive Media department at a local PBS affiliate in Troy, New York. A journalist and writer for more than 10 years, her work has been featured by publications including Bloomberg and the Daily News.
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PLACES TO GO Superior Merchandise Co. 147 4th Street superiormerchandise.com Troy Waterfront Farmers Market Summer: River Street Winter: Troy Atrium, 4 3rd Street 518. 708.4216 troymarket.org Sunhee’s Farm and Kitchen 95 Ferry Street 518.272.3413 sunhees.com Little Pecks 211 Broadway 518.326.3450 (x3) littlepecks.com Plumb Oyster Bar 15 Second Street 518.326.0194 plumb.bar Slidin’ Dirty 9 1st Street 518.326.8492 slidindirty.com Market Block Books 290 River Street 518.489.4761 bhny.com
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COSTUME DESIGNER JENNIFER VON MAYRHAUSER ’65 LETS US INTO HER BROOKLYN STUDIO.
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BY LESLIE GAR ISTO PFAFF
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elevator opens to an expansive, lightinfused loft space filled with the whir and clatter of an industrial air conditioner and multiple racks of clothing. To an outsider, the mix of garments might seem puzzling. A lone swimsuit hangs on one rack, another is filled with prison uniforms. This loft in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is the domain of costume designer Jennifer von Mayrhauser ’65, where she dresses the cast of The Sinner, a new USA network miniseries starring Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman. On this sticky June afternoon, Jennifer—dressed in no-nonsense black trousers and top—is working in the corner office, cheerful in spite of the heat. It’s clear she has a passion for her craft. “The reason I love being a costume designer,” she says, “is because I really love story and character, and I can communicate both of them through my designs.”
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Jennifer is surrounded by inspiration for the series. On the floor across from her desk is a tri-fold display board covered with photographs representing her vision for the costumes needed for a scene showcasing the lead character’s adolescence in upstate New York. On her desk are books of photography by Nan Goldin, who, Jennifer says, “has a mood and palette that feels right for this sequence in The Sinner,” and Todd Hido, whose brooding, atmospheric photographs evoke a similar feeling. All of this helps Jennifer to be sure that her costumes perfectly evoke each character. And “perfectly” is no hyperbole: Jennifer has been honing the craft of costume design for four decades now, winning, among other honors, an Obie Award (the off-Broadway equivalent of the Tony) in 1995 for Sustained Excellence of Costume Design, and an Emmy nomination for her work on the long-running television show Law and Order. The actors she’s dressed are legendary and include Julia Roberts and Matt Damon in Mystic Pizza, Julianne Moore in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Daniel Day-Lewis in The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Walter Matthau in I’m Not Rappaport, Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, George C. Scott in The Boys in Autumn, Joan Allen in The Heidi Chronicles, Mare Winningham in Under the Dome, and, of course, all those stern yet alluring assistant district attorneys who have graced the Law and Order franchise. Where she spins her magic depends on the nature of the production. For film and TV, she’ll work out of a space rented for her by the production company, like the Greenpoint loft. For Broadway and off-Broadway, she does preparatory work at the theater and in her home in Yonkers, New York, and does fittings at the theater. She loves the Greenpoint warehouse, where she’s been since April 2017, for its spectacu-
“Jennifer isn’t only the costume designer, she’s a player, player and important to the emotional integrity of the story.” BA R BA RA HAUS E , the wardrobe supervisor on The Sinner
lar city views, though not so much for the air conditioning which, on this unseasonably hot day in June, labors vainly to cool the large, open space ringed by several small offices. Collecting photographs and reproductions of paintings for her
inspiration boards is just one step in Jennifer’s process. She uses them both to spark her own imagination and to communicate her vision to directors, writers, and actors, who then offer their own input. She particularly likes to work with actors
like Biel, who, she says, “is very collaborative and really thinks about her character and the story.” Jennifer, too, is a natural collaborator. Barbara Hause, the wardrobe supervisor on The Sinner who has worked with Jennifer on numerous productions over the years, describes her interactions with directors: “She starts by talking about and showing her inspiration images. She spends time talking about her conversations with the actors in fittings and how those conversations influenced the clothes. I have watched directors physically relax and their eyes widen as she progresses through the meeting. From this point on, Jennifer isn’t only the costume designer, she’s a player, and important to the emotional integrity of the story.” Jennifer likens her design process to “correlation,” a multilayered way of viewing and understanding art she learned at Emma Willard School. “You’d look at, say, a Renaissance painting,” she remembers, “and you’d correlate it with what was happening at the time that it was painted and what was being written and so on.”
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AS SEEN IN... Mystic Pizza I’m Not Rappaport The Private Lives of Pippa Lee Law and Order Under the Dome The Sinner The Ballad of Jack and Rose The Hand That Rocks the Cradle The Boys in Autumn The Heidi Chronicles
She credits the school with teaching her how to think. “We were always seeing what we were studying from many angles,” she says. “I’m influenced every day by how I learned to think and approach subjects at Emma Willard.” In a similar way, her costumes are spun from multiple visions and a love for story and character that derives from her lifelong passion for theater. Those costumes may not always be pretty, but they speak volumes. John Lee Beatty, a Tony Awardwinning scenic designer, spoke highly of his longtime colleague. “Her work is notable for its humanity, her canny observation of what people wear, without ever making us feel she’d rather be putting sparkly gowns on mannequins,” he says. While many costume designers enter the profession via a background in design, Jennifer’s training, and early passion, were always in theater. At Emma, she was vice president of Campus Players, acted in a number of productions, and worked as a theater apprentice for two summers, including a stint at New Haven’s esteemed Long Wharf Theater. After graduation, a global nonprofit called The English Speaking Union awarded her a scholarship
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to study in England. At her scholarship interview, she asked if she could study during the day so she could spend her evenings in London’s West End seeing plays. After her gap year in England, she studied theater at Northwestern University, working as an apprentice in summer stock between her junior and senior years. She’d hoped to spend her apprenticeship in the prop department but was given work in the costume shop instead. It was a fortuitous turn of events. “I really took to it and started assisting costume designers,” she remembers, “and I decided that I really loved designing.” To learn more about her chosen field, she enrolled in the Studio and Forum of Stage Design, a school for designers of sets, lights, and costumes whose teachers were all theater professionals (one of her teachers was Jane Greenwood, who won a 2017 Tony for costume design in The Little Foxes). One of Jennifer’s early positions was at New York’s Circle Repertory Company. “I designed a lot of plays there,” she says, “and one of them moved to Broadway, so I had my Broadway debut at 26.” She’s been designing virtually nonstop ever since. “Lucky me,” she says, and she means it, though luck is probably only a small part of the formula for her success. Jennifer, who oversees a staff that includes an assistant costume designer, a shopper, a tailor, a costume coordinator, and two production assistants, works twelve-hour days, and notes that most people outside of her business “have no idea how hardy you have to be and how much hard work it is—which I find a positive thing.” When she isn’t designing costumes, she’s thinking about costumes. “I walk down the street and look at what people are wearing,” she says. For inspiration on the film Lean on Me, based on the true story
of a principal in a gritty urban high school played by Morgan Freeman, she attended a series of large open auditions for the student roles and walked up and down the lines snapping photos of the kids whose outfits caught her eye. It is, as they say, an eye for detail, and those details are always designed to say something about character or story or both. For a 2016 production of John Patrick Shanley’s play Prodigal Son, for example, she decided that the main character— a teenager from the Bronx who was given a scholarship to a New Hampshire boarding school—should attend his interview with the headmaster wearing pants that were, as she says, “very subtly a little bit too small” in order to communicate his family’s poverty. And in a production of Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prizewinning play Disgraced, she put the actress Gretchen Mol, who plays an artist influenced by Islamic art, in an elegant cocktail dress with a pattern that quietly evoked Islamic geometric patterns—one of many reasons, the designer says, that she chose that particular outfit. One of the biggest misconceptions about what she does is that creating contemporary dress is easy. She remembers meeting a former classmate who said, of the designer’s work on Law and Order, “It’s a bunch of blue blazers—what’s the big deal?” In fact, everyday dress is every bit as challenging as—and perhaps even more than—dramatic costume. Though each of the successive assistant district attorneys she dressed on the series had to look professional, they also needed to pop as individuals. She put Carey Lowell in sophisticated, form-fitting suits but dressed Angie Harmon in long jackets and long skirts because the look suited Harmon’s character. That knack for reading and communicating character has carried her
“I love being a costume designer because I really love story STORY and Character character, and I can communicate both of them through my designs.” JE NNI FER VON M AY RH AUSE R ’6 5
through forty successful years in the business, and last year it led her to a new gig: Tony Awards nominator. The three-year honorary position requires that a nominator see every show on Broadway each season. This year, Jennifer was working on a TV pilot in New Orleans for the entire month of March, so in April, in order to catch up, she went to the theater every night. She sums up the experience as she might her entire career: “It was a challenge. It was a dream.” Leslie Garisto Pfaff’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Coastal Living, New Jersey Monthly, and a variety of alumni magazines, and she has a special interest in the arts.
Jennifer truly loves her work; inspiration comes from many sources.
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Special Section To Know Better is to do Better Emma Willard continues to ensure safety and wellbeing of community.
Last year, the Emma Willard community reeled from the news that some alumnae have been victims of sexual abuse while attending the school. As part of Emma’s promise to investigate the breadth of the problem, the school hired child protection experts Leslie Gomez and Gina Smith of the Philadelphia-based law firm Cozen O’Connor to interview alumnae and produce a report. In April of 2017, Emma released that report, which documented reported sexual abuse or suspected misconduct at Emma from the late 1950s on. The school issued an addendum in August, which included additional reports. Since the report, the Emma administration, with the help of the board of trustees, has implemented a number of initiatives to prevent sexual misconduct and usher in a culture shift on campus. Emma Willard School is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all community members.
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“We will not waver from our commitment to preventing sexual misconduct and creating true culture change in secondary schools, and we thank our community profusely for supporting this mission.” HEAD OF SCHOOL JENNY RAO
To read the report, visit: issuu.com/emmawillard/ docs/report
R ESOURC ES
PHOTO BY E R I N SC HAF F ’ 07
Emma Willard School will continue to investigate any and all cases of abuse brought forward by any member of our community. All previous reports of sexual abuse or misconduct at the school have already been reported to the Troy Police Department, and any new information brought forward will also be reported. Residential Faculty Evangeline Delgado welcomes students to the READY Center, a wellness-focused space new to the campus.
New and Ongoing Initiatives
The Emma Willard School has: • Partnered with advocacy organization Culture of Respect, a NASPA (Student Affairs Professionals in Higher Education) affiliate, to strengthen our school by utilizing the CoR framework to assess and improve efforts to eliminate sexual violence from school campuses
• Completed a 60-day action plan and formed a Campus
Leadership Team to make changes to curriculum, add training for faculty and staff, and revise policies, procedures and protocols • Updated community handbook Fine Print and employee handbook. New editions include many changes such as a clarified Safe Harbor policy and the addition of nonretaliation and amnesty policies
To report to the school: Lisa McGrath Head of Human Resources and Talent Management 518.833.1367 Jenny Rao Head of School 518.833.1301 headofschool@emmawillard.org Emma Willard School 285 Pawling Avenue Troy, NY 12180 To report to child protection experts: Leslie Gomez 215.665.5546 lgomez@cozen.com Gina Smith 215.665.5540 gmsmith@cozen.com
• Updated sexual misconduct policy, including expanded
Cozen O’Connor 1650 Market Street One Liberty Place, Suite 2800 Philadelphia, PA 19103-2799
• Partnered with the Sexual Assault and Crime Victims
Anonymous tip line: surveymonkey.com/r/Review_EWS
definitions and examples of what constitutes harassment, bullying, assault, and grooming Assistance Program at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, where senior proctors and junior Wellness Advocates received training on how to be mentors in violence prevention
• Opened the READY Center, which offers resources to
support and engage the whole person including physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, environmental, and intellectual health
To report to law enforcement: Troy New York Police Department 55 State Street Troy, NY 12180 518.270.4411
“As a community, we collectively offer our compassion and support. We apologize profoundly to all who have been harmed. We offer our apology with humility, knowing that words are insufficient and long overdue. As each victim and others who were impacted heal, our community heals.” ELISABETH ALLEN LEFORT ’72, FORMER CHAIR OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES IN AN APRIL 2017 LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY
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Admi!sion!
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How to Apply
Applying to a new school can be overwhelming. The admissions team at Emma is here to help make the application process as easy as possible. The Emma application process includes the following: APPLICATION This can be completed online at www.emmawillard.org/admissions. The application includes: ❑ Application Form ❑ Essay ❑ Parent Statement ❑ Application Fee TRANSCRIPTS Should be completed by a school official and contain a minimum of two years of credits as well as the first semester or trimester of the current academic year. RECOMMENDATIONS ❑ English Teacher ❑ Math Teacher ❑ Teacher of Choice
TESTING While we look at much more than test scores when selecting our future Emma Girls, standardized tests help us learn more about each girl’s academic background. More information on the tests we use in our admissions process can be found at www.emmawillard.org/ admissions. INTERVIEW Please contact the admissions office at 518.833.1320 or admissions@emma willard.org to schedule your interview. IMPORTANT DATES Application deadline: February 1 Financial aid application deadline: February 1 Admissions decision: March 10 Enrollment contract and deposit due: April 10 emmawillard.org
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Signing Off HEAD OF SCHOOL, JENNY RAO
Early Reflections
There are four days in my life I wish I could relive over and again: the day I married my husband, the days my sons were born, and the day [then trustee and chair of the Head of School Selection Committee] Susie Hunter called to tell me I had been selected as Emma Willard School’s 17th Head of School. On each of those days my life changed instantly, in an enormous way, for the better. I slept restlessly the night before my first interview on campus, and I arrived on Mount Ida with equal measures of nervousness and excitement. Nana Hayami ’18 and Beverly Guarnieri ’17 put me at ease immediately as they toured me around the stunning campus. They were friendly, genuine, curious, smart, and immensely proud of their school. The time I spent on campus during the interview process made an impression on me—I felt at home at Emma Willard—and I could not wait to return to campus. My interactions with the community resonated with my own feelings about why I applied to become Emma’s Head of School. I came to education because I am an optimist and an idealist at heart. I believe the most
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important work we can do to ensure a better future is to educate others. Leading and teaching energizes me. Building teams, solving problems, adapting to new circumstances, articulating a vision, and working towards tangible goals is the type of work I most enjoy. Before coming to Emma, I spent 11 years dedicated to the education of girls at Garrison Forest, a day and boarding school for girls in Baltimore, Maryland. My own experience of growing up in female environments—as an only child, in an all-girls high school, and as a classical ballet student and teacher—was essential in allowing me to find my voice. These experiences have shaped my philosophy of education in that girls’ education must encourage students to look inward, discover what they care about, and develop the skills and confidence to take action and lead. I see this important work already being done in many ways at Emma Willard. As I visit classrooms and have conversations with our girls, I can see that the life of the mind is alive and well on our campus. Our students are not satisfied with merely knowing, they seek to understand and what is more, they want to make a difference. Indeed, our campus is an environment that instills in our students the desire to serve and shape our world. At Emma Willard we seek not to replicate our world, but to improve it. As I settle into my new life on Mt. Ida, with my husband and two sons, I look forward to building on the strength of this remarkable institution. I am proud of and feel at home in our diverse and international community and believe it is the most compelling environment to develop empathy and a global perspective in our students. I look forward to working with the engaging, caring, and talented Emma family—alumnae, faculty, students and their families—to make our school an ever stronger and better version of itself. I hope to see many alumnae in my travels this year and look forward to getting to know you and learning about your Emma stories.
285 PAWLING AVENUE, TROY, NY 12180